1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus, a broadcast receiving terminal, an information providing system, an information providing method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, by an increase of the number of channels accompanied by spread of a digital broadcast and a cable television, program information is provided utilizing Electronic Program Guide (EPG) information. Based on the EPG information, a viewer can find a desired program out of a plurality of programs. By registering preference information such as a favorite category and character, the viewer can also reduce a load of searching a program. However, a program supposed to be desired by the viewer is sometimes broadcasted by a channel other than the channel determined based on the registered preference information.
Therefore, various kinds of techniques are provided, to reduce the load of the viewer in selecting the program and prevent a case such as missing the desired program by the viewer. For example, in order to improve convenience, there is proposed a method of judging a program preference of the viewer based on a viewing history of the program and an acquisition history of program information, and recommending contents to the viewer by utilizing such a judgment result.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-155764 discloses a technique of specifying a viewer's preference tendency to any one of a plurality of preference patterns based on a program selection history of the viewer, and searching the program matched with the preference of the viewer. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-201303 discloses a technique of reducing the load of the user in selecting the program by judging the preference of a user based on a history of acquiring the past each kind of information, and selecting the program information based on this judgment result.